Case Study: Christ the Servant, Digmoor

Christ the Servant Church was built in 1970 as a mission church to serve people in the Digmoor area of the developing new town of Skelmersdale. It sits at the heart of a densely populated area, most of which falls in the top 5% of areas of multiple deprivation. The church is of a liberal Catholic tradition and has an average congregation of 37, with 46 people on the electoral roll. The church is served by the Team Vicar, who is also Schools Minister across the whole Parish of Up Holland. There are a range of activities in the life of the church including a youth group, beetle drive, ladies and men’s groups, a music group for adults with learning disabilities, a thriving Church Lads and Church Girls Brigade and a Parish pantomime. The church has recently launched a church and community project, in partnership with Lancashire College, which offers a variety of courses based in the church building.

The church had struggled financially for a number of years and was reaching a critical point. With the launch of the community project and the renewed vision for mission the DCC agreed it was time to engage with the Giving in Grace process and appointed a small team to get this underway. At first the programme seemed daunting and a bit alien but, with the help of the Diocesan Resource Team, they soon grasped the concept and were able to develop a more simplified programme suitable for their context.

The group worked as a team in all areas of the process, rather than taking on individual responsibilities. Working with the results of an earlier DCC Away Day, they were able to develop the case statement and highlight new areas of mission in need of financial support, rather than just maintenance. The group met eight times from June 2008 to January 2009 to write the case statement, present it to the DCC and design the leaflet to be issued.

The actual five week GIG programme ran from 8th February to 8th March 2009. Differentiated letters were used for the DCC and Congregation. The DCC were given their letters at their meeting two weeks before the official launch and were asked to give a lead by submitting their response by the launch date.

No set preaching series was used but suitable readings were chosen from the various suggestions on the website in order to give a good understanding of stewardship appropriate for the context.  The Church Lads and Church Girls Brigade launched the programme using an adapted version of “The Heckler” (without the heckler!), which gave a very visual representation of the needs of the church. The Treasurer gave a presentation on the second week, which included a very moving video showing the hard times the church had been through but highlighting all the new areas of mission and fellowship that had begun to grow in the previous twelve months. Visiting preachers contributed to the following two Sundays and the programme was brought to a close on the final week with a thanksgiving service, again led by the Church Lads and Church Girls Brigade, where all the responses were received. The Brigade made ‘thank you’ bookmarks, each containing a mustard seed, which were given to all members of the congregation.

The case statement had highlighted the need for an additional £63 to meet the mission targets, representing an approximate increase required of 50%, which seemed well out of reach. At the start of the planning process there was a great deal of uncertainty about whether there was any capacity within the congregation to increase giving at all. The final level of response was overwhelming. Out of 40 letters which were sent, 34 families replied, representing an 85% response rate. 9 additional people joined the planned giving scheme. When Gift Aid was taken into account the additional amount pledged each week was approximately £59. A truly amazing response.

Throughout the programme there was a definite sense of a church moving away from maintenance into new mission opportunities and it is clear that the congregation really caught that vision. (The nickname for the planning group became GIGGLE “Giving in Grace, God Loves Everyone”!)

Church website address:
www.christtheservantchurch.org.uk